The Executive Option On The Gay Ban

Aaron Belkin provides some interesting advance clues to what we may hear tomorrow from Gates and Mullen:

The Palm Center has announced that President
Obama’s executive changes to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy,
expected to be announced Tuesday, could significantly impact the lives
of gay troops. The expected statements from Defense Secretary Gates and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen would protect
some service members from investigations based on third-party
allegations and set a new standard for what constitutes reliable
sources and credible information that trigger a “don’t ask, don’t tell”
investigation. It is also expected that the military brass will
announce changes to the adjudication of potential discharges, whose
effect could be to require a flag officer to sign off on any discharge
for it to move forward.

“This
Obama Rule’ could provide a new standard for don’t ask, don’t tell’
investigations,” said Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center.
“Depending on how it’s implemented, the executive action taken by the
President could be seismic. Don’t ask, don’t tell’ has rested on the
belief that the presence of openly gay service members is always bad
for the military. The new Obama Rule would mean a shift in the
military’s focus toward keeping gay troops, reflecting the military’s
belief that they are as essential as their heterosexual peers.”

Belkin
also said the effectiveness of the changes would depend on what message
was sent by top civilian and uniformed leaders to the officers
responsible for approving discharges. “If new discretion is being
granted to two-stars, then the actual impact of the Obama rule will
hinge on whether the President, the Defense Secretary, and the Service
Chiefs send a clear signal that discharges are to be minimized,” Belkin
said.

The key to this working is speedy and decisive implementation - and a stated goal to drastically reduce the number of discharges. As an interim step, it could lead to a military in which gay service-members are increasingly allowed to stay. The truth is, despite Christianist propaganda, the vast majority of gay soldiers are interested in doing their jobs and serving their country - not crusading for gay equality. They just want to be left alone.

This should not, emphatically not, be a reason to avoid legislative action to end the discrimination. But if it works to hollow out the policy from within, to make expulsion of gay servicemembers rarer and rarer, to reiterate and reinforce the critical and valuable role gay soldiers play in the defense of their country, and if it is endorsed by the military brass - then it's a very interesting path for Obama to take.

Stay tuned.

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